Chapter 2

Unexpected Visitors


Earth Defense Force

Space Battleship Yamato

March 22, 2203

6am

Captain Derek Wildstar entered the mess hall, yawning and trying to come to life. He had been sleeping hard these last several days, and his dreams had been confusing his mind in his off duty hours. His fiancée,
Nova Forester, was beside him as they took their place in the morning breakfast line.

"What's wrong, Derek? You've been very quiet lately. Is something the matter," Nova inquired.

"I'm not sure, Nova. I've been dreaming a lot lately about my brother,
Starsha, Sasha, and Iscandar. I can't for the life of me understand what the dream is all about, but it seems like something major is about to happen."

They made their way to the servers, and they both pretty much ate the same thing: sausages, ham, eggs, home fries, fruit, and coffee. Derek didn't think much of his wife eating as much as she did, because she has an incredibly fast metabolism, which didn't bother him in the least because it allowed her to keep her slim, trim figure. But he also knew that, while she looked like a weak woman without much muscle tone, she was a real pain to battle with in a fight.

They made their way to a table at the far side of the hall, and the rest of the morning shift gave them a wide berth out of respect for their privacy. This crew, for the most part, had been together since the beginning, when they made that mad dash to Iscandar for the cure to the radiation poisoning that was killing off all life on Earth. Since then,
they had faced and defeated two other major enemies, and now Earth seemed to be at relative peace with the universe.

But the cost was high, as Derek knew all too well. Captain Abraham Avatar was the biggest loss, as this was his command when they made their journey to Iscandar. He had managed to survive it all, despite the radiation sickness that was slowly killing him. He made it long enough to see Earth again, and then silently passed away aboard ship, in his quarters. To this day, no one had been billeted in them, and as far as the crew was concerned, no one ever would again.

Derek and Nova ate in relative silence for a while, watching the members of the morning shift come in and out as they grabbed a bite to eat before heading off to their duty stations.

Derek was the first to break the silence, "You know, it never fails that I expect some of those we've lost to come through that door."

Nova sighed, "I know. It seems like just yesterday we were taking off for the first time and heading out, not knowing if we'd be back in time to save Earth."

"Mind if we join you," said Mark Venture, Derek's best friend and Yamato's chief pilot. Stephen Sandor, chief science officer and engineer, also joined him.

Derek nodded and replied, "Sure, guys. What's up?"

Mark and Stephen sat down, and Stephen was the first to speak, "I just came back from the radar room. It seems as if they've picked up some kind of disturbance in sector 78."

"Any idea what it could be," said Derek.

"Not sure. It's in an area that's pretty much remote from any planets with life on them, so I'm not sure if it's a danger to anyone yet. What we have been getting is a signal from the disturbance. It's too weak to make out, but it has the appearance of a distress signal.," replied Stephen.

Derek, looking down at his now-empty platter, took his napkin and wiped his mouth, then rose up and asked Nova, "Are you finished, dear?"

Nova was in mid-bite when he asked that, but she instantly recognized the look on his face, and nodded to him. She was pretty much finished anyway, but she was one who always cleaned her plate. Together, they made their way to the dishwashers, where they put in their platters and walked back to Mark and Stephen.

Mark and Stephen were wolfing down their meals, and Derek only said,
"I'm heading up to the bridge. I'll see you two guys up there."

They two guys nodded and continued their eating, as Nova and Derek made their way out of the mess hall and toward the elevator that would take them to the bridge. They stepped inside the car, where they were alone with each other. Nova turned to Derek and asked, "Does this have something to do with your dreams?".

Derek looked off into space for a few moments, then turned to the woman he loved and told her, "I believe so. One of the images in my dream is a portal in space, and we have to go through it. I don't know why, but we have to enter it."

Earth Alliance Starship Titans, Warlock-class destroyer

In orbit above Episilon 3 and approaching Babylon 5

January 22, 2271

12:30pm Earth Standard Time

Captain Susan Ivanova looked out at her main view screen at the station that was her home for four years as executive officer. First to Commander Jeffery Sinclair, then to her mentor, Captain John Sheridan,
she served in the most turbulent times in the galaxy's history. She remembered her thoughts when she first boarded the station so many years ago, thinking this was just another temporary assignment before she got her own command.

In those four years, she was a part of events that dramatically altered the shape of life in the galaxy. They seceded from the Earth Alliance,
went back in time to save Babylon 4, fought against two ancient races for control of the galaxy, then battled and defeated the fascist regime of President William Morgan Clark to free Earth. She had almost fallen in love with a woman, but then that woman was revealed to be a sleeper agent for Psi Corps, the almost omniscient agency for telepaths that had turned sinister in recent times. To make her heartbreak complete, she had almost fallen in love with a Ranger, Marcus Cole, but then she was mortally wounded in the last days of the civil war, and he had saved her by sacrificing his own life by giving her all of his life energy thanks to an alien device that was originally used for executions, but was adapted to save lives by Doctor Stephen Franklin, then the chief medical officer on the station.

It had been years since she had been promoted to captain and given the first Warlock-class ship to command. Her reasons for taking it were to get away from the station and the memory of Marcus. There were still nights, in the privacy of her quarters, where she still cried her eyes out over his loss. She never let herself breakdown in front of the crew,
instead switching on that cold, hard personality that she had honed back aboard the station she was looking at now.

Her executive officer, Commander Henri LaCoste, came up to her,
"Captain, Babylon 5 just hailed us and Captain Loughley sent a message.
She says, 'I'm looking forward to your visit and your crew is more than welcome to take shore leave here.' Any reply, captain?"

Ivanova nodded and said, "Acknowledge the message and tell them I'm on my way over. As for shore leave, wait about 24 hours and I'll let you know."

"Yes, Captain.," nodded LaCoste and he went back to his station.

Soon after, Ivanova was by herself in a Thunderbolt fighter, enjoying the brief flight between the ship and the station. She, like her mentor Sheridan and her first commanding officer on the station, Sinclair,
loved to get out in a Star Fury and fly around. Granted, she got her nose bloody a few times along the way, but she also knew that she walked away, save once, from every battle.

All too quickly, she turned over control of her fighter to command and control and let them guide her ship into the immense docking structure.
Once she was docked and out of her flight suit, Captain Elizabeth Loughley met her. They made their way to Loughley's quarters, talking about professional stuff and current events, especially about the plague that the Drakh had released on Earth three years earlier.

"So what's the latest from Excalibur," inquired Ivanova.

Loughley sighed and admitted, "Not much. Gideon is still running here and there trying to find anything he can that would give us a cure, but he's had no luck. He's due back here in a few weeks for a resupply, so hopefully I'll know more of what's going on then."

They made their way into her quarters and dropped the professional act,
embracing like old friends.

"God I've missed you, Liz! It seems like you're one of the few people I can talk to about all of what's going on."

"I know. It seems like ever since this place got built, all hell has to break loose on a regular basis! So how have you been, Susan?"

"Fine. Could be better, could be worse. So he's due back in a few weeks,
eh? Anything special planned," winked Ivanova.

Loughley blushed, "I've not had much time to plan anything, but I'll come up with something."

Ivanova patted her friend on the back and said, "Just be sure to let me know when the wedding is, ok?"

Loughley threw back her head and laughed, "Getting a little ahead of ourselves, aren't we?"

Ivanova smiled and sobered quickly, "I'm serious, Liz. I missed out on falling in love with two special people and having them taken away from me before I could do anything about it. I know that I'll never be able to love anyone else again after Marcus, but it would make me happy to see you with Matthew."

Loughley's eyes misted over and she had a little trouble responding.
"Thanks, Susan. I'll keep that in mind. Speaking of Marcus, are you going to see him while you're here?"

Ivanova sighed and walked away for a moment, then turned back to Loughley, "Yeah, I will. Sheridan said to me not too long ago that I should move him to Minbar so that they could better take care of him,
but I just feel like he'd want to be here instead."

"Do you want to go see him now?"

"No, not right now. I'm not ready yet for that. I'll be staying a few days anyway so the crew can blow off some steam."

"Ok, then. You can stay here, if you'd like. Lord knows that I'm not in here that much..."

That's when the flash of light hit Loughley again.

Loughley was in a room overlooking the city that was in the flash earlier in the day. Starsha was there, sitting behind a desk. With her was a dark haired man in a military uniform, as well as a shorter blond that looked to be Starsha's daughter.

"The time draws near, Elizabeth. Look for the ship to come through the portal soon."

"How soon," asked Loughley.

"Very soon. Just wait for them to appear, then head to Minbar."

The flash of light came again, and she was back in her quarters aboard Babylon 5.

"Elizabeth? Are you all right," asked Ivanova, with a worried look on her face.

Loughley looked shocked for a moment, then walked over to the couch and motioned for Ivanova to join her. "I've been having strange dreams as of late, and I don't know what it all means. Care to hear about them?"

Ivanova nodded and joined her friend on the couch, and Loughley told her everything.

Earth Defense Force Space Battleship Yamato

March 22, 2203

12 noon

Captain Wildstar was seated at his usual position, that of the combat chief. He could have moved to the captain's chair long ago, but never felt comfortable sitting where his mentor once sat. Besides, he had a better view of things from his perch anyway.

Seated beside him was Mark Venture, chief pilot. To Venture's right was Stephen Sandor, who was scanning the phenomenon before them. They had arrived at the portal an hour before, and the message that they had picked up still sent a chill down his spine.

"Can anyone help us? This is commander Susan Ivanova of Babylon 5. To any ships in grid epsilon. We are under attack. I repeat, we are under attack. The captain is dead, defense grid is down, they are boarding us,
they are coming in all over the place. We've tried to evacuate as many as we can, and Garibaldi has rigged the fusion reactor, but.. my god,
here they come. Switch to external cameras. They've got weapons lock.
Here comes. Here comes. Aah!"

Nova walked over from her post as chief radar tech and stood beside her fiancé as the message kept playing above them on the main view screen.
"I've never seen a uniform like that before. And I don't know of any station named Babylon 5. What does it mean?"

Instead of responding to his love's question, Derek looked over at his chief communications officer and asked, "Have you heard back from headquarters yet, Homer?"

Horatio "Homer" Glitchman turned to his commanding officer and shook his head. "No sir. The phenomenon is interfering with out transmissions as well as our communication system."

Mark looked over at his friend and asked, "What do we do, Wildstar?"

Derek closed his eyes and leaned his head back against the headrest,
then turned to Stephen, "What do you have for me, Sandor?"

"Wildstar, all I can tell is that this phenomenon has something to do with time travel, though I am not sure what it is exactly. If you are asking me if we should go through, I'm not sure if we should, because we might not be able to return if we go through it."

Derek inhaled and blew out a long, deep breath. "it's possible that whatever is attacking that station may come through this portal and try to attack Earth. I think we have to go through and take the risk."

Stephen nodded, "I tend to agree with you, Wildstar. There's plenty of risk involved, but if this is a new enemy, meeting them on their turf would be better than having them come through and getting a foothold here."

Mark spoke up, "I agree, too. We need to know what they're plans are."

"Then it's settled. We'll go through.," said Derek, "Venture, power up the engines and take us in."

"Yes, Captain."

Earth Alliance Space Station Babylon 5

January 22, 2271

6:45pm Earth Standard Time

Ivanova was in Loughley's office, along with Babylon 5's executive officer, Yuki Moriyama, as well as her own exec, Henri LaCoste. They were going over the message they had received from Sector 14.

"This is Captain Derek Wildstar of the Space Battleship Yamato. We are on our way. Hang in there, Babylon 5."

Ivanova looked at the paused message on the vid screen with a haunted look on her face. She remembered the first time she had heard the distress call that a future version of her had sent out shortly before the trip into Sector 14 with Ambassador Sinclair to stop the Shadows from destroying Babylon 4 years earlier. She was at a loss then over the message then,. and at an even greater loss now.

"Have you contacted Draal about this?"

"Yes, and he doesn't know why this is happening either.," sighed Loughley. Draal was the Minbari who had taken over the Great Machine on Episilon 3, the planet in which Babylon 5 orbited above. The original caretaker was dying and Draal took over to prevent the advanced technology on the planet from falling into the wrong hands. Draal had helped them out during the Shadow War and the civil war with Earth, and had mostly kept monitoring the sector for them.

Just then, Loughley was beeped on her comm link. "Loughley, go."

It was Lieutenant Walker in C&C. "Captain, we've picked up a ship in Sector 14. Its identity is unknown, according to the computer. What shall we do?"

Loughley thought for a moment, "Prep Alpha wing for launch. I'll command the mission. Loughley out." She then turned to her friend and asked "Captain Ivanova, since you have first hand knowledge of Sector 14,
would you please join me on the mission?"

"Yes, Captain. It would be my pleasure.," replied Ivanova. Without another word, they departed from the office and made their way to the cobra bays, home of the Thunderbolt fighters.